Mash stands for mobile army surgical hospital, but it has also come, after decades of television repeats, to symbolise the huggable, funny side of the US military.

When Mashunits first began at the end of the second world war, they were revolutionary.

The M*A*S*H legend was created by a former military surgeon, Richard Hornberger, who wrote a fictionalised account of his experiences in Korea, under the pen-name Richard Hooker in 1968, long after the war and at the height of the Vietnam conflict, when a jaded public was more receptive to its anarchic wisecracking tone.

Maul's 43rd MASHunit was among only four left in the world that are being phased out to make way for what the military says is a smaller, faster, more efficient medical group called the Forward Surgical Team.

Attending the ceremony, and later signing autographs and cutting the farewell cake, were three actors from the television series, which ran from 1972 to 1983 and is still shown in reruns and dozens of languages around the world.

Of the three MASHunits remaining in the world, two in the states will be deactivated this year and one in Bosnia will likely continue as long as a U.S. presence remains there.

www.cnn.com /WORLD/9706/11/mash (579 words)

USATODAY.com - Mission to quake-ravaged Kashmir is farewell for MASH(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-30)

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan  The last of the U.S. military's legendary MASHunits is completing its final assignment here in the quake-stricken Himalayas — 3,000 miles from the frozen Korean countryside where Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John mixed martinis, plotted practical jokes and pursued shapely nurses.

MASHunits emerged at the end of World War II, when military planners realized that too many wounded soldiers were dying before they could make it to far-away field hospitals.

MASH entered American popular culture in 1968, when Richard Hornberger (under the pen name Richard Hooker) wrote a ribald fictionalized account of his Korean War adventures as a surgeon with the 8055th MASH.

MASH stands for mobile army surgical hospital, but it has also come, after decades of TV repeats, to symbolise the funny side of the US military.

The last real-life MASH will pass away with far less fanfare on Thursday, when the 84-bed field hospital is formally handed over to the Pakistani Government, after four months of providing relief for victims of last October's earthquake.

The last of the old breed, the 212th MASH, based in Germany, was the first US military hospital established in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, but was then transferred to Pakistan after last year's earthquake.

The 84-bed, $4.5-million MASHunit includes a surgical suite with two operating tables, two intensive care units, a pharmacy, laboratory, radiology units and a power generation system, the military said.

The Army is replacing MASHunits with smaller casualty surgical hospitals that sit closer to battlegrounds and the wounded, said LeFever, who is commanding the U.S. military's Disaster Assistance Center in Pakistan.

After the last MASH goes to Pakistan on Feb. 16, its personnel will return to Germany for training before they are sent to Afghanistan.

The goal of "Operation MASH" is to ensure that its hospital units are as visible, as readily found in war and/or impoverished zones overseas, as well as here in America.

The MASHunits would be a tangible expression of our commitment as a nation to promote healing and renewal, both at home and around the globe.

* The MASHunits would be staffed by a combination of retired doctors; practicing doctors, who would contribute their services (over a short or longer period); and medical school students, as part of their training and as an expression of their commitment to the spirit of service in their profession.

Story-The 4077th MASHunit is based in Korea, during the conflict, just a few miles from the front lines.

There is also a 30 minute "Fox" television special, on the 30th reunion anniversary showing of MASH, which was actually a tribute to Altman's career, with many cast members and Altman reminiscing in a round robin stage setting after the showing of the film.

MASH blends humor with the horrors of war, a delicate combination which is skillfully combined for an extraordinary film experience.

The unit is powered via Solid State Relays under computer control, the two water heater elements are wired in series.

The pump used to circulate the hot wort and when the mash is done, I use it to transfer the sparged wort into the Boil Kettle.

Test run of software and RIMS Unit, showing the various temperatures being read, status if heater elements etc. This test data was obtained using water only and a data sample rate of one sample in every ten seconds.

Winfrey, at 72, said in a droll southern drawl that because he was the youngest enlisted man in the unit, he was charged with organizing the reunion.

The unit was named in honor of a World War I medical unit also organized at the IU Medical Center.

According to William D. Gambill, M.D., the youngest medical officer in the unit and a retired member of the IU School of Medicine faculty, during one 24-hour period (River Roer Offensive) in Germany, the 32nd treated 1,800 casualties.

I was deposited at some medical unit and eventually a doctor looked at me. He used some surgical scissors and cut through my belt, pants, long johns and examined the wound.

In most units such as Infantry, they send you back for hospitalization with your personal gear and keep all the rest, which they put into their quartermaster for reissue.

They would call out what unit they were picking up and those men would get on the truck and off they would go.

www.paulnoll.com /Korea/Story/story-Korea-repo-depot.html (890 words)

HeraldNet: Army's last MASH unit to be shut down(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-30)

The 84-bed, $4.5 million MASHunit includes a surgical suite with two operating tables, two intensive care units, a pharmacy, laboratory, radiology units and a power generator, the military said.

The Army is replacing MASHunits with smaller casualty surgical hospitals closer to battlegrounds and the wounded, said LeFever, commander of the military's Disaster Assistance Center in Pakistan.

Doctors in the new units will be able to make quick decisions in the field and stabilize patients before flying them to hospitals, he added.

www.heraldnet.com /stories/06/02/05/100wir_a12mash001.cfm (458 words)

Atlantic City MASH Unit(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-30)

Executive Director, Steve Dash says, "The Humane Society's MASHUnit has been based at the Cumberland County SPCA over the past six months to concentrate efforts in that county." Dash adds, "This original unit will become the property of Cumberland County SPCA made possible by a grant from the Geraldine Dodge Foundation.

The Humane Society of Atlantic County's second larger unit is in the process of being built with completion due December 1, 2002.

The MASHUnit II is a thirty-foot unit that is wider and taller than the original.

Army's Last MASH Unit Deploying to Pakistan(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-30)

The 212th MASH, based at Miesau Ammo Depot and comprised of mostly doctors and nurses from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and Heidelberg’s Army hospital, got the order two days ago and will be in Pakistan this weekend.

The 212th is the last MASHunit in the Army and has about 130 people able to deploy anywhere around the world on a moment’s notice.

Landstuhl is the Army’s largest hospital outside of the United States and continues to treat wounded servicemembers from Iraq and Afghanistan in addition to military personnel and their families stationed in Europe.

The 84-bed, $4.5 million MASHunit includes a surgical suite with two operating tables, two intensive care units, a pharmacy, lab, radiology units and a power generation system, the military said.

The Army is replacing MASHunits with smaller casualty surgical hospitals closer to battlegrounds and the wounded, said LeFever, who is commanding the U.S. military's Disaster Assistance Center in Pakistan.

The TV version of ''MASH'' aired from 1972 to 1983 and starred Alan Alda as Korean War surgeon Hawkeye Pierce.

www.suntimes.com /output/news/cst-nws-mash05.html (244 words)

The Scotsman - International - The show's over as last MASH unit in US army breaks camp(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-30)

The unit was originally commanded by the easy-going Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson), who died as he was flying home after finishing his service.

Now, the real-life MASHunits are being replaced by smaller casualty surgical hospitals.

The MASHunit in Pakistan - with a total cost of £2.5 million - includes a surgical suite with two operating tables, two intensive care units, a pharmacy, laboratory, radiology units and a power generation system.

Waheed Akhtar of Goldsboro Heart Specialists spent two weeks working in the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, or MASHunit, where an average of 200 patients were seen daily.

The MASHunit is set up like a hospital with a corridor, only in tent form.

It has heat, air conditioning, and electricity, and features a lab, X-ray, CT scan, inpatient area, and intensive care unit, as well as an operating room where an average of eight surgeries are done daily, Akhtar said.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's no-kill shelter, MASH, was created to house and care for animals that have been abused or neglected by their caretakers, and that have been rescued by the Animal Cruelty Investigative Unit.

The MASHunit also houses the small pets of individuals who check into domestic violence shelters that do not accept pets.

MASH animals available for adoption have started their shot series and have been spayed/neutered.

www.petfinder.org /shelters/AZ98.html (742 words)

8055th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital - US Army - Korean War Project(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-30)

And as crazy as this sounds MASHunits were about the extent of my knowelege, and I just want to thank all of the men and women who often had to become supermen to do the work that they did.

Without MASHunits I believe that there would be far more graves from the war and that it is solely because of your efforts that some many made it home.

Richard Hornberger came to the unit in the spring of 1952, after the peace talks stasrted and all was fixed at the 38th parallel.

www.koreanwar.org /html/units/8055mash.htm?set=700 (4506 words)

ABC News: U.S. Army MASH Unit Rolls Into Pakistan(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-30)

U.S. Army Major Mary Choi, 212th MASH, Emergency Medicine Doctor, from Buffalo, IL, 32, checks a gurney as they set up a field hospital to treat injured Kashmiri earthquake survivors, effected and mostly left homeless by Oct. 8 earthquake, in the devastated city of Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, Monday, Oct. 24, 2005.

Once the unit is complete, the MASH team which is based in Germany will be able to perform 20 major operations a day.

In recent years, the Army has largely phased out the once ubiquitous MASHunits, replacing them with Combat Army Surgical Hospitals designed to be more flexible and operate closer to the front lines.

The Army is phasing out MASHunits for more flexible combat support hospitals that can be moved closer to the front line of a battle.

The MASH — with a total cost of $4.5 million — includes a surgical suite with two operating tables, two intensive care units, pharmacy, laboratory, radiology units and a power-generation system, the military said.

Unlike a MASH, which was set up in the rear, parts of a CSH, like a surgery or primary care unit, can be detached.

The 212th MASH was called for service in the Middle East in late January and wound up at Camp Udairi, Kuwait, alongside the 86th Combat Support Hospital.

The 212th MASH differs from the Army’s combat surgical hospital in its size and mobility.

But the Army has been eliminating its MASHunits and consolidating them into larger combat support hospitals, figuring smaller mobile hospitals can be sliced off from the unit and sent where they’re needed.

www.estripes.com /article.asp?section=104&article=14604 (1102 words)

212th MASH Crest(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-30)

The unit's participation in World War II is represented by four stars at the top of the arc, and the second fleur-de-lis, at the bottom of the cross.

Independently, the arc and scroll each represent one of two Meritorious Unit Commendations awarded to the unit for its service in the European Theater during World War II.

MASH stands as the most decorated tactical U.S. Army Hospital in the Active Army.